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Monday, January 13, 2014

Novel characters what was I thinking?

If you haven't already heard, my first western historical novel Marshal in Petticoats is behind made into an audio book. I'm excited. I've heard the first fifteen minutes of the book and had shivers listening to my characters come to life.

What I hadn't expected was the narrator to ask me what TV or movie characters did I think best represented my characters. ??? It's rare that I base a character off a character from a show. I usually see, especially my main characters, as an independent person. Not a caricature of someone else.

Granted I have used a few- Holt, the hero in Bridled Heart, has some resemblances to actor Simon Baker. And the hero, U.S. Marshal Beck Harlan, in Improper Pinkerton was a composite of a football player I watched on Dancing with the Stars.

But when the narrator of Marshal in Petticoats ask me for TV and movie characters to stylize my characters after...I drew a blank. And now thinking back, I should have told her Darcy Duncan, the heroine, was like Sandra Bullock's FBI characters, instead I told her Zoey Deschanel- a cross between her TV character and the one she played in Failure to Launch. And I told her a young Tom Selleck in a western for Jeremy Halsey the hero. She already had the mayor figured out- Boss Hogg from Dukes of Hazard only not as goofy.

So now as I think about the next books in the Halsey series, because the plan is to get them all in audio, I've got to do some better thinking on the characters I believe my characters are like.

Outlaw in Petticoats-
Maeve Loman - She's going to be hard. She's stern and set in her beliefs.
Zeke Halsey - is more the young Tom Selleck. Kidding and then getting down to business when it needs to be done.

Miner in Petticoats-
Aileen Miller - a fiercely loving mother, who has been through a lot and doesn't want a man. Ethan Halsey - Head of the Halsey clan. Feels the weight of his family rests on him.

Doctor in Petticoats-
Rachel Tarkiel - Funny but I think she is a good Keira Knightly character. She came easily to me when I saw Keira on a movie trailer. Everything she's been in speaks to me as Rachel.Clay Halsey - Stubborn, independent - Almost a Rocky Balboa, nothing is going to keep him down. But not so silent.

Logger in Petticoats-
Kelda Neilsen- Strong, doesn't see herself as pretty, enjoys her loving family.
Hank Halsey - All business, out to prove himself. Probably Sam Elliott in his usual western portrayal.

So anyone out there have any ideas either from my descriptions or from reading the books?